Meals for students - share your ideas here!

DS is off to university in a month, so I've got that long to train him up on looking after himself!

He's just about mastered doing his own laundry, so now we're onto cooking. I've explained that cooking doesn't just mean bunging something in the microwave.

So, I want to get him cooking a few basic meals that will keep him going. Bear in mind that he'll have a shared kitchen (so won't be able to spend hours cooking), will have a limited number of utensils and will be on a budget.

So far he can cook pasta, make an omelette and heat a tin of soup!

I'm going to show him how to boil vegetables and potatoes, how to grill chicken, how to make a stir fry and how to boil rice.

What basics do you think are vital for a first year student? Have you got any recipes for quick and easy meals?

A simple bolognese sauce was my sons staple- mince is cheap and basics canned/ carton tomatoes.
They used to make a big batch when they were home and then freeze in portions. Can be used as a basis for spag Bol, chilli, shepherds pie, lasagne, on a baked potatoe etc...
A simple curry too as he has already mastered the rice.
A favourite of my youngest used to be salmon, microwaved with sliced pots - quicker than a cook and chill packet.
On arrival, when they were all freshers together and keen to get to know each other in their shared kitchens, both my sons cooked a big curry and a spaghetti bolognese for all to share which helped before a night of drinking and also to get to know others.
I found that it depended on who they were with in halls / student houses as to whether they cooked properly or not. They went through patches of healthy eating if they were with others that cared too. Oldest loves cooking and led in his shared kitchen, organised cheap altogether meals to share to save money with his rugby friends. His fridge was full of fresh veg, avocado...even a fennel bulb was a regular - the whole floor would hunt the reduced food shelves and use it in a meal but he was happy to spend money on nice fruits and veg and salads. Youngest tried but soon fell into pizza and pasta/ chicken sauce jars, baked pots and beans etc..for quickness, his group ate for fuel not for pleasure and found cash for beer and gigs first. Both were keen to experiment in the kitchen at home but took their different paths living on their own. Youngest in his last year lived with a couple of food interested/ bothered about what they put in their body folk and his diet vastly improved.
I found that it helped me to send them off with batches of food ( if they had room in their fridges and freezers) chilli, beef stew, chicken and fish curry, home made pesto etc...and at least I knew that for a couple of weeks they would eat well!

I would also suggest a mince/Bolognese sauce.

Pasta bakes too, with loads of veg in them, with or without chicken/mince beef.

There's a Mary Berry dish that I love and the recipe doesn't need altering at all. It's a minced pork and water chestnut noodle dish. I get it off the internet but it is in one of her books. I add in a chopped courgette too and if I am cooking it for children I don't use as much soy sauce, but for adults I do.

I don't know how he feels about lentils but there is a very easy and yummy lentil Bolognese recipe on *****. Freezes well and is so cheap to make.

How are you feeling Mouse? It must be a very emotional time. x

Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook - Page 312 - Google Books Result



https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1409375307

It's the Szechuan noodles with water chestnuts. We all love it here and as I say the recipe is foolproof.

Gnocchi? it cooks very quickly.

I'm loosing my 2nd son in a couple of weeks so feeling the pressure here also to train him up.

I also ease my mind by ordering an 'online delivery' of shopping to be delivered to them approximately every 6 or so weeks. So at least I know they've had some vitamins within the last month.

Best of luck your end.

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Originally Posted by Maza

Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook - Page 312 - Google Books Result



https://books.google.co.uk/books?isbn=1409375307

It's the Szechuan noodles with water chestnuts. We all love it here and as I say the recipe is foolproof.

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You have a Mary Berry cookbook!!
Will DH like her so much after his enforced bake off viewing that he accepts a cook book in her name into the house??? How long have I got to convince him she is ok? How long does the series last?

Noodles for students - YES! I forgot them - cheap as chips - and as LO nt as its not the pot kind - ok for healthy eating with roasted veg is a fav of youngest - chop in oven - easy Peasy - it's his preferred method of cooking veg - " no faff".

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Originally Posted by FloraDora

You have a Mary Berry cookbook!!
Will DH like her so much after his enforced bake off viewing that he accepts a cook book in her name into the house??? How long have I got to convince him she is ok? How long does the series last?

Noodles for students - YES! I forgot them - cheap as chips - and as LO nt as its not the pot kind - ok for healthy eating with roasted veg is a fav of youngest - chop in oven - easy Peasy - it's his preferred method of cooking veg - " no faff".

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No, I don't have her cookbook - I get it from the library every now and then and photocopy the recipes I like if I can't find them on the internet! We enjoy watching Mary Berry - she's one of the few tv cooks who doesn't annoy me! The bloke (sorry, can't remember his name) is a bit too smarmy for my liking. We even like Mary Berry's clothes, lol!

Did your son cook the Brazilian meal for you? What did he decide on in the end?

Love roasted veg too.

Will follow this thread with interest as youngest is off to uni in 3 weeks, he can manage bolognaise, curry and fajitas but any other ideas would be great. He isn't a big veg fan so he is happy thinking he will be escaping them.

1001 ways with mince kept me alive! :laughing:

I've just asked ds and he says anything you can put in the oven with a baked potato :D

Spoke to youngest: Mac n cheese and chicken ceaser salad ( with readymade dressing) bag of leaves and toms, chicken grilled or oven baked or stir fried, dressing and croutons..." Always looks impressive" was his quote.
I made the mistake of asking if he made his own croutons!
Coc au vin - on the cheap - boiled/ simmered chicken and veg ( or not) served with garlic bread ( basics 50p).
Good breakfast with lots of cheap / going off fruit / from reduced area - with basic range yoghurt and cheapo fresh orange juice - makes you feel you have started the day healthy it seems ...a pack of reduced price bevita breakfast biscuits to munch on the way to Uni.... His recommended start to the day.
Buy a bottle of water then just top up from tap after that "until the bottle looks Tired".
Full English breakfast - but for dinner was a recommendation to have a meat feast.especially if Nanna had provided Staffordshire oatcakes ( she used to send them by post! )

All Aunties / uncles/ family friends from now on give chain restaurant cards for birthdays and Christmas - though enough on card to buy a meal/ hearty brunch was also recommended.

From memory I lived off -
Pasta and pesto
Pasta bake (dried pasta, tinned tomatoes, mixed herbs and shed loads of cheap cheese)
Coffee
Cheap red wine
Cheap vodka

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Originally Posted by mumofone

From memory I lived off -
Pasta and pesto
Pasta bake (dried pasta, tinned tomatoes, mixed herbs and shed loads of cheap cheese)
Coffee
Cheap red wine
Cheap vodka

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Sounds familiar :laughing:

I lived in catered accommodation so only had to buy alcohol :p

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Originally Posted by FloraDora

All Aunties / uncles/ family friends from now on give chain restaurant cards for birthdays and Christmas - though enough on card to buy a meal/ hearty brunch was also recommended.

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My 23 year old says he'd never have thought he would appreciate a £10 Sainsbury's voucher for his birthday, but he was very grateful for it when the month lasted longer than his pay packet and he needed to buy petrol :laughing:

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Originally Posted by Maza

How are you feeling Mouse? It must be a very emotional time. x

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I'm excited for him, but I will miss him. He's the 3rd to leave home and our family is starting to feel very small.

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Originally Posted by Maza

No,

Did your son cook the Brazilian meal for you? What did he decide on in the end?

Love roasted veg too.

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Forgot about that! Lovely meal, Thankyou - good atmosphere to start the Olympic viewing.
We had a casserole called feijoda served with Brazillian chees rolls.
Little sweet cakes - coconut based - I think they were called beijinhos and chilli mangos.
A background of music they heard in the cafe s there and a screen showing their millions of Rio photos - it was a nice recap of their time there and when the BBC showed parts of Rio in their coverage DH got fed up of me saying " they had a photo of that!" .
They did volunteer work whilst on their adventure, in exchange for board and lodgings - often they had to cook the evening meal - they mainly stayed with small farming families so he honed his skills whilst there.......once he was a student going off to Uni and I was just as concerned as you Mouse if he was going to eat properly!

Student recipies is a great website, lots of cheap and easy meals with short cuts.

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Originally Posted by blue bear

Student recipies is a great website, lots of cheap and easy meals with short cuts.

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Great suggestion - if they don't know how to cook something the first port of call for any 18 year old is a site via their phone!
'Lean and mean in 15' is one my youngest uses - he introduced me to coconut oil through his recipes - a good recommendation from my son.

Have a look at lakeland they have a recipe book of 80 meals made in a microwaveable cup and there are even things like chicken stew with dumplings in it. Only had a look at it in store but it looked quite good foe someone making lots of single meals.